Introduction
The importance of integration
In today's competitive business landscape, integrations are more than just a tech perk; they're a fundamental requirement. Acting as bridges between different platforms, they facilitate the seamless exchange of data. This automation not only saves time, but also enhances the overall efficiency of business operations. In industries that require complex coordination the value of integrations cannot be overstated.
Speed of booking a ticket
Gone are the days of tedious manual data entry. With integrated systems, booking a flight becomes a streamlined process, reduced to a few simple clicks.
Error prevention
Errors in passenger details can lead to costly delays and even legal complications. Integrations ensure the accuracy of this information, thereby reducing the risk of such costly mistakes. For instance, the list of passengers is directly imported from the existing HR software, ensuring data accuracy. Conversely, essential flight details like date, time, and ticket number are auto-populated back into the HR software, eliminating manual entry and reducing errors.
Seamless automation and data synchronization
Imagine a situation in which booking a flight not only saves your time but also instantly updates all the required information within your HR software. This high level of automation simplifies processes and improves the quality of decision-making.
What do we support?
In C Teleport we support wide variety of methods and data formats.
We understand that every company has its own requirements, data formats and existing software. We can use any method of integration that works better for your needs.
Here is an overview of possible options for data exchange:
1. Web Services / API (recommended)
You expose a WebService/API. C Teleport calls this API to collect required data and push information to your system. Format of the message can be JSON (recommended), XML, CSV or others.
2. File export
You can export required data into a file every 30 minutes. Then you should share this file with C Teleport by using FTP or email.
C Teleport will import and use this data every 30 minutes.
Supported file formats: JSON, XML, CSV or others
3. Access to database
You can provide C Teleport with an access to your database and C Teleport will be pulling all necessary data from it. We can work with all kinds of databases, including MS SQL and MySQL.
What can be integrated ?
- Passenger data - you don't have to enter passenger data anymore
- Whole crew change data - you don't have to enter airports or dates
- Entering flight data into your HR software - after booking, cancelling or changing the flight, data is automatically sent back to your HR software
- Search flights from your HR software - when you have finished crew planning, you click one button and see all flights for the whole crew change
Recommended timeline
We always recommend splitting integration into parts. It is best to begin with the easiest and fastest integration and then develop deeper integrations later. Here is the suggested timeline:
- ~4 hours Passenger suggestion - Article
- ~4 hours Crew change data integration - Article
- ~20 hours Sending flight data back to the HR software - Article
It is completely OK to have only basic integrations and not have others. But it is absolutely essential to have passengers integrated properly. It brings most efficiency to the process.
Flow
Here's the integration flow that we can establish to ensure flawless synchronization between C Teleport and your HR software.
1. Passenger integration (required)
This is the most basic integration. It is also the minimum required integration to start using C Teleport. It should take between 4 and 20 hours depending on HR software infrastructure. If you estimate more time, please get in touch with us to discuss options.
Here, what crew managers will see:
When users enter passenger data while booking, we suggest surnames of passenger based on the information retrieved from your HR software. Users don't have to enter data manually and, therefore, avoid mistakes. C Teleport uses the first entered letters to find passenger for the suggestions.
Example message in JSON format
[
{
"last_name": "Smithsen",
"first_name": "John",
"dob": "1978-12-03", // YYYY-MM-DD format
"nationality": "GB", // 2-char ISO code
"gender": "M",
"doc_country": "GB", // 2-char ISO code
"doc_number": "UK36276372323",
"doc_expire": "2019-04-22", // YYYY-MM-DD format
"home_airport": "LON", // 3-char IATA-code of the home airport
"email": "smithsen@gmail.com", // Optional
"phone": "555123456789", // Optional
"id": "AS32231", // Optional
},
{
"last_name": "Smith",
"first_name": "Eugene",
"dob": "1976-11-12",
"nationality": "NL",
"gender": "M",
"doc_country": "NL",
"doc_number": "NL637643742",
"doc_expire": "2021-03-04",
"home_airport": "LON",
"email": "eugene.smith@gmail.com",
"phone": "555987654321",
"id": "SM3233",
}
]
Required data for passenger integration
| Parameter | Format | Description |
|---|---|---|
| last_name | string | Last name |
| first_name | string | First name |
| dob | YYYY-MM-DD | Date of birth |
| nationality | 2 letters | Nationality. 2-letter country code. Standard ISO-3166-1 alpha-2. |
| gender | M or F | Gender |
| doc_country | 2 letters | Passport issuance country. 2-letter country code. Standard ISO-3166-1 alpha-2. |
| doc_number | string | Passport number. 9 char maximum. |
| doc_expire | YYYY-MM-DD | Passport expiry date |
| home_airport | 3 letters | IATA code of the closest airport for the passenger. |
| string | Optional. Email of the passenger | |
| phone | string | Optional. Phone of the passenger |
| id | string | Optional. ID number of the passenger for backwards synchronisation |
Option 1.1: Call your API real-time during booking
Example GET request to your API
GET http://yourcompany.com/api/suggest_passenger?surname=SMITH
Here is the desired workflow:
You expose a webservice that will respond to GET requests. You provide us with the URL address of the web service and establish security measures.
HTTP authentication password protected access or IP whitelist will be fine.
Your webservice responds with a list of people that are matching the surname.
Despite we recommend JSON format, we can accept any format of data and convert it to our required format on our side. So, your API may respond with JSON, XML, SOAP, CSV, plaintext or virtually any other format. In case of missing data, crewing managers will have to enter it manually.
Option 1.2: Cache data after calling you API
You expose an API that allows C Teleport caching all passenger data on a regular basis. Normal frequency is every hour. Then C Teleport retrieves data from you regularly, stores all cached data and serves users suggestions from cache. This option is the fastest in terms of performance.
Option 1.3: File export
You regularly export a file with all crew data, see example above for the data required. Then you deliver the file to a special email provided by C Teleport or upload it to FTP. This part could be done automatically by your HR software. C Teleport will receive the file and store the data in cache. Users will receive suggestions from this cache.
Option 1.4: Uploading your data via our REST API
Example of request to our API
POST https://integrations.cteleport.com/passenger
Header: X-Api-Key: [your API key]
Body:
[
{
"id": "AS32231",
"last_name": "Smithsen",
"first_name": "John",
"dob": "1978-12-03",
"nationality": "GB",
"gender": "M",
"doc_country": "GB",
"doc_number": "UK36276372323",
"doc_expire": "2019-04-22",
"home_airport": "LON",
"email": "smithsen@gmail.com",
"phone": "1234567890"
}
]
We can receive data about your passengers through our endpoint. We will provide you a special API key and you will send your data with it in the same format as used across this document. It will be instantly available for booking tickets.
2. Crew change data upload
Example of request to your webservice
GET http://yourcompany.com/api/crew_change?date=2017-06-03
Example response in case of marine sector
[
{
"vessel": "CMA CGM Passat",
"flag": "GB",
"onsigners": [
{
"id": "231",
"last_name": "Smithsen",
"first_name": "John",
"dob": "1978-12-03",
"nationality": "GB",
"gender": "M",
"doc_country": "GB",
"doc_number": "UK36276372323",
"doc_expire": "2019-04-22",
"home_airport": "LON",
"email": "smithsen@gmail.com",
"arrive": "2017-06-03"
}
],
"offsigners": [
{
"id": "4343",
"last_name": "Petrov",
"first_name": "Sergey",
"dob": "1965-11-22",
"nationality": "RU",
"gender": "M",
"doc_country": "RU",
"doc_number": "RU3627362332",
"doc_expire": "2019-08-11",
"home_airport": "LED",
"email": "petrov@mail.ru",
"depart": "2017-06-03"
},
]
}
]
Through the crew change integration, C Teleport can access your crew planning data and automatically populate the information when you search for a flight. While this integration can be applied across various sectors, the specific data requirements for the integration may differ depending on the particular industry in question.
For example, in marine sector, when users enter a vessel and a date for a crew change, C Teleport will pre-fill all airports and passenger data as showed below.
This is the desired workflow:
Option 2.1 Your API or webservice
You have to expose an API.
C Teleport will be sending a GET request to your webservice with a date entered by a user.
Based on the date, your webservice prepares the crew change data, lined up for this date.
Required data for crew change integration in the marine sector
Your webservice has to collect 3 pieces of data: 1. vessels data, which have crew changes on the requested date 2. data on on-signers on the requested date 3. data on off-signers on the requested date
| Parameter | Format | Description |
|---|---|---|
| last_name | string | Last name |
| first_name | string | First name |
| dob | YYYY-MM-DD | Date of birth |
| nationality | 2 letters | Nationality. 2-letter country code. Standard ISO-3166-1 alpha-2. |
| gender | M or F | Gender |
| doc_country | 2 letters | Passport issuance country. 2-letter country code. Standard ISO-3166-1 alpha-2. |
| doc_number | string | Passport number |
| doc_expire | YYYY-MM-DD | Passport expiry date |
| home_airport | 3 letters | IATA code of the closest airport for the passenger. |
| string | Optional. Email of the passenger | |
| phone | string | Optional. Phone of the passenger |
| id | string | Optional. ID number in HR software of passenger for backwards synchronisation |
| vessel | string | vessel name (specific to marine sector) |
| flag | 2 letters | vessel flag (specific to marine sector) |
| depart, arrive | YYYY-MM-DD | date of departure or arrival form/to the airport of crew change |
Option 2.2 Initiate search from your software
Example HTML form in marine sector
<form action="https://app.cteleport.com/integrations/search" method="POST">
<input type="hidden" name="vessel" value="CMA CGM Passat">
<input type="hidden" name="flag" value="GB">
<input type="hidden" name="change_airport" value="AMS">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[0][arrive]" value="2017-06-03">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[0][last_name]" value="Smithsen">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[0][first_name]" value="John">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[0][dob]" value="1978-12-03">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[0][nationality]" value="GB">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[0][gender]" value="M">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[0][doc_country]" value="GB">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[0][doc_number]" value="UK3627637">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[0][doc_expire]" value="2019-04-22">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[0][home_airport]" value="LON">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[0][email]" value="smithsen@gmail.com">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[0][id]" value="your_software_id_3262">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[0][custom_fields][any_name]" value="The field value">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[1][arrive]" value="2017-06-03">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[1][last_name]" value="Smith">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[1][first_name]" value="Peter">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[1][dob]" value="1968-06-15">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[1][nationality]" value="DK">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[1][gender]" value="M">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[1][doc_country]" value="DK">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[1][doc_number]" value="DK3672643">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[1][doc_expire]" value="2020-12-02">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[1][home_airport]" value="CPH">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[1][email]" value="smith@gmail.com">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[1][id]" value="your_software_id_2345">
<input type="hidden" name="onsigners[1][custom_fields][flight_request_id]" value="1234567890abc">
<input type="hidden" name="offsigners[0][arrive]" value="2017-06-03">
<input type="hidden" name="offsigners[0][last_name]" value="Petrov">
<input type="hidden" name="offsigners[0][first_name]" value="Sergey">
<input type="hidden" name="offsigners[0][dob]" value="1965-11-22">
<input type="hidden" name="offsigners[0][nationality]" value="RU">
<input type="hidden" name="offsigners[0][gender]" value="M">
<input type="hidden" name="offsigners[0][doc_country]" value="RU">
<input type="hidden" name="offsigners[0][doc_number]" value="RU3627362">
<input type="hidden" name="offsigners[0][doc_expire]" value="2019-08-11">
<input type="hidden" name="offsigners[0][home_airport]" value="MOW">
<input type="hidden" name="offsigners[0][email]" value="petrov@mail.ru">
<input type="hidden" name="offsigners[0][id]" value="your_software_id_892">
<input type="hidden" name="offsigners[0][custom_fields][flight_request_id]" value="1234567890abc">
<input type="submit" value="Search flights">
</form>
You may use POST requests to send your users from your crewing system straight to search results in C Teleport. In this case C Teleport has no access to your crewing system and you maintain the highest level of security. However it decreases flexibility because suggestion of crew member by name is not possible.
Here is the desired workflow:
When a user lands on C Teleport webpage, he has to be authorised. If the user was previously authorised he seamlessly proceeds to the search results page.
If your crewing system is browser-based, we recommend using <form method="POST"> with hidden fields pre-filled with the required data.
Data format is the same as in crew planning by date.
Passenger name should contain letter and spaces only. All non-letter characters such as apostrophe, dot, comma and etc should be removed from the name.
In this case the user will be leaving your HR software and go to C Teleport. User will land straight on search results page. After finalizing bookings user will have to go back to your HR software. You may also choose to send the booked tickets back to your HR software. In this case you need to have additional syncing integration.
Option 2.3 Upload your data via our REST API
Example of request to our API for marine sector
POST https://integrations.cteleport.com/travel-requests
Header: X-Api-Key: [your API key]
Body:
[
{
"travel_request_id": "TR12345", // Optional back-sync ID
"vessel": "Sample Vessel", // Vessel name
"flag": "NL", // Vessel flag, 2-char ISO code
"change_date": "2023-08-10", // YYYY-MM-DD format
"onsigners": [
{
"id": "S123",
"last_name": "Doe",
"first_name": "John",
"dob": "1990-01-15", // YYYY-MM-DD format
"nationality": "NL", // 2-char ISO code
"gender": "M", // 1 letter
"doc_country": "NL", // 2-char ISO code
"doc_number": "ABC123",
"doc_expire": "2025-01-15", // YYYY-MM-DD format
"home_airport": "AMS", // IATA-code of the home airport
"email": "john.doe@example.com", // Optional
"phone": "1234567890", // Optional
"metadata": { // Additional information for sending to third-parties systems
"key1": "value1",
"key2": "value2"
},
"change_date": "2023-08-10" // YYYY-MM-DD format
}
],
"offsigners": [
{
"id": "S125",
"last_name": "Williams",
"first_name": "Michael",
"dob": "1992-03-05", // YYYY-MM-DD format
"nationality": "GB", // 2-char ISO code
"gender": "M", // 1 letter
"doc_country": "GB", // 2-char ISO code
"doc_number": "DEF456",
"doc_expire": "2025-03-05", // YYYY-MM-DD format
"home_airport": "LHR", // IATA-code of the home airport
"email": "michael.williams@example.com", // Optional
"phone": "4433221122", // Optional
"metadata": { // Additional information for sending to third-parties systems
"key5": "value5",
"key6": "value6"
},
"change_date": "2023-08-10" // YYYY-MM-DD format
}
]
}
]
You can send us preliminary information about upcoming crew changes through the REST API using your API key, and it will instantly become available in your C Teleport interface for tickets booking. If you want, you can conduct a test of this integration within our dedicated development environment, giving you the opportunity to perform a thorough verification before proceeding to the production stage.
3. Reverse integration
Example payload
{
"actions":
[
{
"action": "confirmed",
"timestamp": 1514925900,
"user": "email@yourcompany.com"
},
{
"action": "cancelled",
"timestamp": 1514925950,
"user": "email@yourcompany.com" // email or "c teleport bot" keyword
}
],
"passenger": {
"last_name": "Timze",
"first_name": "Oskars",
"id": "crew-2323" // Id received from your software through integrations in article 2
},
"durations": [455],
"segments": [
{
"carrier": "KL",
"flight_number": "3092",
"origin": "RIX",
"destination": "AMS",
"departure_date": "2018-01-02",
"departure_time": "16:25",
"connecting": true,
"arrival_date": "2018-01-02",
"arrival_time": "17:50",
"cabin_class": "Economy"
},
{
"carrier": "KL",
"flight_number": "1097",
"origin": "AMS",
"destination": "MAN",
"departure_date": "2018-01-02",
"departure_time": "21:45",
"arrival_date": "2018-01-02",
"arrival_time": "22:00",
"destination_terminal": "3",
"connecting": false,
"cabin_class": "Economy"
}
]
,
"baggage": {
"RIX-MAN": {
"checked": {
"pcs": 2,
"weight": 23,
"url": "MYTRIPANDMORE.COM/BAGGAGEDETAILSKL.BAGG"
}
}
},
"tickets": ["0745267507710"], // Can be multiple tickets
"id": "285e3b89ee3846a5a6e035d4794939a8",
"locator": "C-DRF2P8",
"terms": {
"fare_type": "public",
"splitting": false,
"cancellations": "refundable",
"changes": "paid-change"
},
"metadata": { // in metadata can be added any other field that you required
"crew_change_member": "JOHN",
"crew_change_airport": "MAN",
"crew_change_date": "2018-01-02"
},
"state": "issued", // values: confirmed / issued / refund_pending / cancelled / approval_required / declined / change_pending
"price": {
"total": 463.98,
"ccy": "EUR"
},
"created_at": 1513865074,
"created_by": {
"name": "Adam Smith",
"email": "smitrh@company.com"
},
}
When a user takes any action related to a booking, C Teleport can send this data to your crewing system. Specifically, when a user books a flight, your software will receive all the details that you need regarding the flight (itinerary, passenger, baggage allowance, price...). In case a user changes the flight booked, your software will promptly be updated with the new flight information. On the other hand, if a user decides to cancel a flight, your software will reflect the change by indicating that there is no longer a booking. This process ensures that your HR software stays always synchronized with C Teleport.
You can choose between “push” or “pull” approach. With the "push" approach, you need to provide an API through which C Teleport can push booking data to your system in real-time. If you don't have any API and you don’t want to develop it for some reason, you may choose to pull this data from C Teleport API endpoints.
You will be notified of all states of your booking and corresponding ticket(s).
Here are the states that we deliver to your system by default.
Description of payload
Payload sent with push/pull request will consist of a set of actions performed by user or system and a complete snapshot of the booking after this action.
| Section | Purpose |
|---|---|
| actions | Array of actions related to your booking. There will be always only 1 action if you are using pushing approach. There can be multiple actions if you are pulling, because we will accumulate actions between current and the previous pull call. |
| passenger | Passenger data for double-checking together with the passenger's ID, which we received from your software through integrations in article 2. |
| durations | Durations of all flights (segments) in the booking in minutes. |
| segments | Detailed information on each flight (segment) in the booking. |
| baggage | Baggage allowances. |
| tickets | List of issued tickets. Can be empty if tickets are not issue yet. |
| id | ID used to identify the booking in C Teleport. Can be used to build URLs to C Teleport. For example, to open a booking screen. |
| locator | User-friendly identifier of the booking. Used by support team to identify and find bookings. |
| terms | Contains data on terms of the ticket: is it marine or public ticket, is it single or split-ticket (consists of two reservations) and information about possibility of changing and canceling. |
| metadata | Data on crew change and direction of the flight: off- or on-signing. |
| state | Current state of the booking: confirmed, issued, refund_pending, cancelled, approval_required, declined, change_pending. |
| price | Data on price and currency. |
| created_at | Timestamp of creating the booking. |
| created_by | Details on the user, who created the booking |
Option 3.1. C Teleport pushes data to you
Example of request
POST https://yourcompany.com/api/sync_flights
In this scenario, C Teleport will transmit the required data to your API endpoint (an example of the payload is provided above). You have to expose the API endpoint and process the received data.
Please tell us the endpoint address as well as security information.
When a user takes an action that that the status of a booking or ticket, C Teleport will initiate an API call to your system. You will need to handle the data payload received during this call.
Option 3.2. You pull data from C Teleport
Example of request
GET https://integrations.cteleport.com/bookings
Header: X-Api-Key: [your API key]
When you want to maintain top level of security, you may pull the data about flights from C Teleport instead of pushing it. In this way your system remains completely closed, but you still can sync the flights data.
Under this scenario you will call our API endpoint https://integrations.cteleport.com/bookings. This endpoint will accumulate all changes that you didn't collect since your last call. Therefore, you will be receiving an array of bookings with arrays of actions performed with the bookings.
Please mind that unlike PUSH, this method will not provide real-time synchronisation between C Teleport and your system.
Other methods for data exchange
While we strongly recommend HTTP GET/POST data exchange methods with JSON payload, we also understand that some systems may not support it. Therefore, we accept virtually any other methods of communication, incl.:
- non JSON file types
- XML, SOAP
- CSV
- YAML
- others
- Non HTTP data exchange
- FTP file transfer
- SSL file transfer
- E-mail file transfer
Please remember that we can develop a secure and stable webservice for you even if your current software does not support it. Please contact us if you need help.
FAQ
Data from our crewing software doesn't have the same format as described in this document. What shall we do?
For each new integration we conduct an analysis to identify the disparities and, if necessary, transform data to match the desired format.
We need to have specific data that is not mentioned in this document, is it possible to handle it?
Yes, we always analyze your needs and specific requirements to ensure comprehensive data coverage.
Is the comunication between our system and C Teleport secure?
We recommend communications over HTTPS, which will be protected by the SSL certificate. It is virtually impossible to break it. In case of doubts, ask us any questions about security.
How long does it take to integrate?
The time required for integration may vary depending on the complexity, but in our experience, the development phase alone can be accomplished in just a few hours.
Is it possible to test the integration in an environment different than production?
Yes, we can set up our development environment to accommodate your testing requirements. We will provide you all the information needed to perform the tests in complete autonomy.